contestvscontestéeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: contest is a noun, contestée is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“contest” is a noun and “contestée” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,722
“contest” frequency rank
#13,998
“contestée” frequency rank
53720
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contest contestée
Definition Concours. Participe passé féminin singulier de contester.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set contest and contestée apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
contest
9 ch
contestée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contest is \ˈkɒn.tɛst\ while contestée is \kɔ̃.tɛs.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “contest” sits inside “contestée”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53720, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contest is recorded at frequency rank #39,722, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈkɒn.tɛst\. contestée is at rank #13,998, tagged as averb, pronounced \kɔ̃.tɛs.te\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 53720, this pair ranks #138,841 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of contest vs contestée

Shared letters: cenost. Private to "contest": -. Private to "contestée": é.

"contest" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "contestée" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contestccontest · cnotest · conetst · conntest · contesst · contestt · contets · contset

Frequency comparison

contest#39,722
contestée#13,998

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "contest" and "contestée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "contest" is a noun and "contestée" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "contest" or "contestée"?
"contestée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,998 in our French list, against #39,722 for "contest". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering contest vs contestée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “contest”; for a verb, it's “contestée”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “contest” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list